Film reviews and more
★★★★☆ We all love a Disney movie. Many childhoods have been warmed by their glow and generations are defined by what set of Disney characters are close to their hearts. For older viewers, the animals of Bambi and The Jungle […]
★★★★☆ Disney’s well-publicised decision to further expand its newly acquired Star Wars franchise beyond a sequel trilogy with a separate spin-off strand was hardly a revolutionary concept. For years, George Lucas and his acolytes have licensed books, toys and videogames […]
★★★☆☆ I Am Not a Serial Killer has a promisingly schlocky title, but Billy O’Brien’s adaptation of Dan Wells’ YA novel (scripted with Christopher Hyde) never quite escapes its adolescent inspiration. John (Max Records, last seen as the kid in […]
★★★☆☆ Sometimes there are films that have such a whirlwind of media attention and extraneous commentary that it’s nigh on impossible to discuss them in isolation. Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation was already hauling around significant baggage by […]
★★★☆☆ Blood runs deep in The Ardennes. Here we have a fraternal tale of resentment and revenge which shifts gears from brutalist kitchen sink drama in Antwerp’s bleak, unforgiving suburbs to something of wholly demonic, biblical proportions in latter stages […]
★★★★☆ For all of the great opportunities that film festivals give to explore the cinema of other cultures, it’s always worth remembering that they’re curated with international audiences in mind – and often for those with a love of auteur-driven […]
★★★★☆ It’s curious that both of this month’s Criterion releases – The Royal Tenenbaums being the other – share so many thematic and narrative similarities. Unsurprising given that Wes Anderson directed the Tenenbaums and produced this effort, both films revolve […]
★★★★★ Matched only by the Coen brothers and Tim Burton for inimitable style, Wes Anderson remains one of the most interesting and idiosyncratic working American directors, and it was the 2001 The Royal Tenenbaums – his third feature – that […]
★★★☆☆ “I think anyone who claims they know what’s going to happen to the internet is not worth listening to.” This summation of the way we understand and can predict the interconnectivity of the future seems an apposite way to […]
★★★☆☆ Following his 2010 documentary Reminiscences, director Juan Daniel F. Molero returns for a challenging and visually impressive second feature with Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes). Billed as a ‘non-love story’, its use of digital visual technology and an immediate, […]
★★★☆☆ Social realist veterans Jean and Luc Dardenne return to the big screen with their latest work The Unknown Girl, a thought-provoking but messy tale about a doctor who feels immense guilt for a patient she failed to help. Adèle […]
★★★☆☆ 15 January 2009. Disbelieving eyes look skyward from apartments and offices in horror as US Airways flight 1549 careens dangerously close to Manhattan rooftops before pitching into the Hudson River. The key to Sully‘s edge-of-your-seat success – and successful it […]